Larry French is speaking Middlesboro’s language and is averaging close to eight (8)-wins a year over his first six seasons
You can tell a ton about a coach by examining his coaching tree in addition to his wins, losses, and titles. French has an all-time, type tree which will be more fully discussed later in this feature. Larry French is third, all-time, on the KHSAA wins list with a record of 369-181 and 2-titles (2009, 2010) he won heading the program at Boyle County. French is clipping off wins at a near eight per in Middlesboro and is just a few seasons from finishing 13-1 and making a 2A (at the time) semi-final. Point is, it won’t be long before French joins Haywood and Hilton in the ultra-prestigious 400-career wins club. French is in 1A now and looks to establish his Yellow Jackets among the elite programs in that classification in the Appalachias. Betting against the man is a very bad idea.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
Middlesboro, KY: There are ways to identify an all-time, Kentucky High School football coach apart from wins, losses, and titles. We aren’t diminishing the importance of winning. We aren’t diminishing the importance of titles.
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We are just saying it is a bit more complicated than raw numbers. There are numerous components to greatness. We have attempted, over the life of this particular series, to focus in on some of those characteristics.
Discipline, integrity, sound fundamentals (blocking and tackling), scheme, doing things the right way, the long way (no-shortcuts); there are just plenty of characteristics not wholly dependent on numbers. “Football people” know it when seeing it, even if they fall short of adequately describing the characteristics.
The type of players you are able to develop means a lot. Do you develop college talent? Do you develop solid students? Do you develop solid citizens?
Do you develop community leaders? Do you develop movers and shakers? Do you deliver back to the families who entrust their sons to you better men and better players than what was first delivered to you?
You get the point. The list continues on and on from there.
“Coaching tree” is often discussed in discussing the “greats.” The theory is a truly great coach should impart information to his kids which takes root and produces good fruit, or good coaches.
The concept is biblical. For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. Luke 6:43-44 (KJV)
Coach French’s tree has produced very good fruit. Just to name a few off the top of my head, Jean Rollins, Larry Mofield, Chuck Smith, Clay Clevenger, Brad Hood, David Buchanan, and Jack Robertson. These are just a few of the fine coaches who learned the craft from Coach French and went out and produced very good fruit of their own in the KHSAA football industry.
French had another penchant known to be characteristic of legendary coaches. French was a first-rate program builder. Everywhere French traveled, programs flourished.
French is a first-rate, program builder
Friday Night Fletch
Boyle County was 5-7 the year before hiring Larry French. Coach French’s first season, the Rebels were 13-1 and lost a heart breaker at Bell County in the semi-finals.
The next two seasons, 2009 and 2010, the Rebels won titles and 30-consecutive games. Matter of fact, French went 43-1 his first three (3) seasons in Danville.
The four seasons prior to being hired at Middlesboro, the Yellow Jackets had gone 1-10, 1-10, 2-9, and 1-10. French is hired for the 2019 season and Middlesboro goes 8-4, 6-1 (pandemic shortened season), and 13-1 with a trip to the 2A semis. French is about to begin his seventh (7th) season in Middlesboro and he is 47-19 and has won 71.2% of the games played there under his direction.
Southwestern was coming off back-to back, 3-7 (2012), 1-9 (2013) seasons when French was hired there for the 2014 campaign. In five seasons at Southwestern, French won 47 games before moving on to Middlesboro.
French right out of college
It has been like that everywhere French has been. This just isn’t an accident. This just isn’t coincidence. It is the result of planting good roots resulting in trees which produce great fruit.
When your players grow up to become championship winning and contending coaches of their own, your a good coach. I used to say that good teachers teach the students the subject matter. In theory, for every student you fail, you failed.
You’re paid to impart the material you were hired to teach. If the student’s entrusted to your care “don’t get it,” who should be blamed? Let me ask it this way; who was paid to give it to them?
The students are unmotivated! Well, motivate them. You’re a professional, not some rank amateur.
The students just won’t listen! Tell them something which sparks interest. Tell them a story they will want to hear. Once again, you’re a professional, not some rank amateur.
Nobody looked at Middlesboro, when French was hired for the 2019 season, as a place you were just destined to win. Those guys weren’t winning. They were getting curb stomped.
Larry French took the same “sorry talent” which had managed just five (5) wins in four (4) seasons prior to his coming; and won 27-games over the next three years. Remember too, one of those seasons (2020) was one in which the Yellow Jackets were only allowed to play seven (7) games because of the pandemic.
Larry French took the same “sorry talent”…and won 27-games over the next three years
Friday Night Fletch
How do we know Larry French is the real deal? Well, there is a way to determine that very question.
One can’t ignore the fact French took a Middlesboro team coming off five (5) wins in four (4) previous falls, with that same team winning exactly 40% of those games in 2014 alone, and led them to 27-wins, 6-losses over the next three (3) seasons. One can’t ignore the fact French took a Boyle County team coming off a 5-7 and went 43-1 with two titles the next three (3) seasons.
One can’t ignore the fact French took a Southwestern team, which had won 4-games in two years, and won 47-games over the next five (5) seasons. One can’t ignore the fact numerous coaches from his coaching tree have won many, many more games than they have lost and won numerous titles of their own.
A legendary coach who is a friend of mine took a job at a 6A school which had won two games in the two years prior to his getting hired. Many of us thought he was silly to take the post. His first year he went 10-4.
How’d he do it? Well, he was Mike “Freaking” Holcomb. That is what legendary coaches (like Mike Holcomb) do.
Madison Central didn’t hire Mike Holcomb to continue to go 1-10. If they did, they clearly made a sorry hire.
Larry French found himself in a similar situation several times over his career. Perhaps he was silly to accept those posts.
There’s no way around this one fact…the man is Larry “Freaking” French. Larry French doesn’t win five (5) games in four (4) seasons. Larry French doesn’t win four (4) games in two (2) years.
Why? Because he’s Larry French. Parlez-vous that français, Buster!
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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